IPhone 5 journal: Torture testing the battery

Reviewer Rob Pegoraro is putting the new iPhone 5 through its paces and keeping a running journal of his impressions. Have any questions about the phone? Leave us a comment about what you'd like to see Rob tackle in future updates.People talk about a phone's battery life as if it were a single measurement, but it's more accurate to speak of battery lives. Apple's own estimates for the iPhone 5 reflect that complexity, covering such use cases as talk time (8 hours), standby time (225 hours), Internet use (8 hours on 3G or 4G LTE, 10 hours on WiFi) and audio and video playback (40 and 10 hours, respectively). And just in case, Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) qualifies all these figures with the magic exculpatory description "up to."
 To get a worst-case estimate, I set the Pandora (P) app to play Web radio nonstop, then disable the phone screen's auto-lock option to keep the display lit. For a best-case data point, I'll leave the phone on a desk with the screen off, mobile broadband active and Bluetooth and WiFi powered up but not linked to anything; 24 hours later, I'll check its battery status. I don't look at talk time, because we increasingly use smartphones for things other than calling.By those metrics, the iPhone 5 is terrific -- but not by a huge margin. In the Web-radio test, it lasted 7 hours and 44 minutes; in the second, its onscreen battery gauge read 85% after 24 hours idling away. Each figure beats any Android phone I've tested on an LTE signal, although some 3G models have done better.
I'm used having to recharge so many of these lesser devices by noon at busy tech events. The iPhone 5 pushes that "where can I plug in?" moment into the night -- an advance power users will welcome. I used mine at the Online News Association's conference in San Francisco last weekend, which may not have been CES or SXSW but still had me spending an inordinate amount of time on my phone.And after 10 hours Saturday spent checking e-mail, tweeting, reading on the Web and looking up directions a few times, the iPhone 5 still had a 32% charge by that evening. It took another three hours for it to fall below 10%. That's seriously good.But on Sunday, three hours online, five hours of airplane mode on the flight back to D.C. and a couple of quick "tethering" sessions sharing the iPhone 5's LTE with my laptop combined to drive the battery down to 52 percent. As much as the iPhone 5 advances smartphone battery life, in one aspect it only matches competitors: You'd still be wise to bring a cable and a charger if you're going to spend a long day with this thing. To top of page

Get More Memory And Better Battery Life For Your iPhone 5 With The iExpander

The iExpander Kickstarter project aims to improve upon the design of the iPhone 4, 4S, and 5, adding important features that founder Charlie Corry thought the phone was lacking, including better low light images, expandable memory, and more battery power.To improve the phone, Corry and his team created a multi-function iPhone expansion device that was incorporated into a compact case, which has been updated for the new iPhone 5.The case has a wide range of features. To enhance Apple's camera, Corry added several LEDs to the external battery, which brightened the flash, improving the quality of low light pictures.To improve the memory of the iPhone, the iExpander comes with a Micro SD slot. You can use any Micro SD card up to 64GB, and transfer photos, videos, and documents between the iPhone and the iExpander, freeing up precious space.
Though the iPhone has always had an excellent battery life, extra battery power never hurts. The iExpander has a lithium polymer battery, giving you double the battery life on your iPhone.The iExpander is not an ultra thin case, but it is thinner than other, similar battery expansion cases like the Mophie Juice Pack. It clocks in at 6.3mm, but that's impressive for all of the features that it adds. Made of a graphite reinforced nylon, the cheap Battery Case is guaranteed to be strong and flexible.For iPhone 5 users, the iExpander has been designed with a built in Lightning to 30-pin adapter, meaning that while in the case, your phone will work with all of your old accessories, plugs, cords, and chargers, which is a nice edition.
The iExpander is an external hard drive and additional battery pack for the iPhone, which makes it extremely useful if you like to have access to plenty of music and videos on your phone. Not only will you have the additional storage space, you'll also have the extended battery life to enjoy all of your extra content.This is a solid idea, in my opinion, and if you agree, you can back the Kickstarter project and sign up to get your very own iExpander, in black or white, for just $70. Check out the video below for more information.Thanks to AppAdvice reader Chris for the tip on this great product!Since the iPhone 5 finally landed in the hands of excited customers on Friday, there have been numerous reports of a "rattle"or ‘thud"coming from inside new phones. What is the weird sound in these online videos?

Everpurse iPhone Charger Juices Your Phone in The Comfort of Your Purse

Pretty much anyone who has an iPhone knows that it uses up quite a bit of power. If I'm away from home for most of the day, I absolutely need a juice up. These days, I've got a cheap iPhone battery case that does the trick. Everpurse is a more stylish option, with more power but it's still an external battery.Everpurse is a small case that has a special pocket into which your iPhone automatically "slides" and hooks itself up to a dock connector. There's a patent involved, so I'm guessing that this is a pretty unique docking process. Once you've done this, your phone starts juicing up. Apparently the battery is enough to charge your iPhone from 0% to 100% twice in one day, so probably something like 3,000 to 5,000 mAh.
Once you get home, you just have to place your Everpurse onto a charging mat. The clutch itself will charge inductively, but it won't charge your iPhone inductively. It was launched as a Kickstarter campaign and you'll have to pledge $129 (USD) to get yours. At the time of writing, the project had amassed $127,000, blowing past its $100,000 goal with 25 days left, so it will definitely be produced.IPhone 5 also has a speedy new Apple-designed A6 chip that makes the device even more responsive than before, up to twice as fast as the A5 chip on the 4S, Apple says.
What's more, the handset easily lives up to Apple's marketing spiel as the "biggest thing to happen to iPhone since iPhone." Apple means it literally. For the first time since the original smartphone came to market in 2007, the iPhone gets a display larger than 3.5-inches. The new screen, 4-inches diagonally, exploits the stunning Retina display technology that first showed up on the iPhone 4.Apple manages to produce the larger screen without penalizing the consumer with a bulky design or poor battery life. The new iPhone is just a shade taller than earlier models but with a width the same as the 4S. And it is 18 percent thinner and 20 percent lighter than its immediate predecessor.
The move to 4 inches feels right for the iPhone, though it looks like a dwarf side-by-side with the 4.8-inch display on the Samsung Galaxy S III, arguably the best of the Android breed. I was able to display more than four extra paragraphs reading the same newspaper article on the Samsung as opposed to the iPhone 5. On the other hand, the iPhone screen appears sharper and brighter, and the phone is easier to carry.

US Trade Judge Rules in Favour of Apple Regarding Samsung Patents Case

According to a judge, Apple Inc. did not in any way violate patents owned by Samsung Electronics in producing the company's popular iPod Touch, iPad and iPhone. The statement was issued in a preliminary ruling at the International Trade Commission held on Friday.The dispute between the two major electronics companies have reached extreme proportions with either of them dragging the other to court in some 10 countries over patent rights. Both Samsung Electronics and Apple Inc. are rivals; out to grab the maximum share of the large scale and ever-expanding mobile industry. Apple Inc. was benefitted by a landmark win just last month following the findings of a US jury that Samsung Electronics, the South Korean corporation, had copied some specifications of the Apple Inc. iPhone and had awarded Apple Inc. with damage charges amounting to $1.05 billion.
James Gildea, an ITC judge, claimed on Friday that Apple Inc. had in no way violated the four different patents connected to the cheap iphone4s battery case. Samsung had earlier laid blame on Apple Inc. for infringement in a complaint which was filed in the middle of the year 2011. It had demanded that the infringing manufactured electronics be banned from being sold within the United States. The ITC judge had covered all these facts while making the case.The entire commission is slated to reach a positive outcome – whether to overturn or uphold the decision of the internal judge – by the month of January.
Samsung Electronics issued a statement claiming that the company retains faith in the fact that the total Commission will come to an ultimate determination that verifies their position that Apple Inc. needs to be held liable for free-riding on their technological innovations. Apple Inc. did not wish to comment any further on the matter.The patents mentioned in the complaint are connected to 3G wireless features, the formats of Wall Charger Wholesalers meant for high-speed transmission and combining functions such as web browsing with the functions of a mobile smartphone.
At the ITC, a similar complaint against Samsung Electronics had been filed by Apple Inc. blaming the former, an important chip provide for Apple as well as an international rival, of transparently copying its iPads and iPhones. The preliminary decision of the ITC judge is due to come out in December.Samsung Electronics happened to be the best selling mobile phone manufacturer in the second quarter of this year, with Apple Inc. bagging the third spot, as stated in the data derived from Gartner Inc.

My iPhone needs a case, Jerry Seinfeld

On an episode of his Web series Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, Jerry Seinfeld mocks his friend Joel Hodgson for putting his iPhone in a case. "Why don't you walk around with a helmet on, too?" Jerry needles. "Why don't you get yourself a big styrofoam helmet?" The implication seems to be that relying on a case to protect your iPhone is a sign of weakness; if you don't live in a bubble, your precious smartphone shouldn't either. My reaction to Jerry's case-aversion: What is the deal with that? (And I'm not the only one questioning Jerry's perspective; the folks at iLounge take issue with his argument, too.)As part of my job at Macworld, I test a lot of iPhone cases. I specialize in rugged cases and those that provide extra battery power. I'll freely admit that, before I started doing that testing, I regularly toted my iPhone around as naked as both it and I were on the days we were born.
Battery cases can be a huge boon to folks who use the heck out of their iPhones. For me—between testing apps for Macworld, getting push notifications, using location services, yada yada yada—my battery-level regularly runs down to 30 percent or less by early afternoon. A battery case might leave my iPhone feeling thick and heavy in my man hands, but it also means I can avoid the dreaded 20- or 10-percent messages of doom. I use the WorkMate case on days I expect the iPhone will be more susceptible than usual to rough treatment. Even in my own home, I'm not really master of my domain. I have three young kids, including an iPhone-obsessed 18-month-old. He can swipe to unlock, swipe to the right screen, and tap on the Duck Duck Moose game of his choosing with ease. But sometimes, when he's all done with the iPhone, he also likes to toss it across the room with all of his 18-month-old might. My iPhone's real, and it's spectacular, and I don't want my kid's rough handling to smash its glass.
Remember the iPhone 4 antenna kerfuffle—the signal attenuation problem that cropped up when you held the phone wrong (i.e. along its naked metal edge)? At the press conference that followed—the one at which Apple offered free cases (which obviated the problem) to anyone who bought that phone—Daring Fireball's John Gruber asked Steve Jobs and other Apple executives present whether they personally equipped their phones with protective rubber bumpers. I understand that preference. Truth be told, I wish I could look at my iPhone and declare, "No case for you!" When you keep your iPhone in a case for days or weeks at a time and then take it out, it's a revelation: The nude iPhone is absurdly slim, fits the hand brilliantly, feels delightfully light, and provides wonderfully unobstructed access to the screen and controls. Any case that provides any protection makes the iPhone a little less awesome to use.

The New York Hong Kong Case Is My Favorite iPad Case So Far, And It's Cheap

The last of these was just a joke, but the New York Hong Kong (NYHK) cases includes it and everything else on the list. In fact, if not for one important niggle (which is the fault of the iPad 3 itself), then the NYHK could be just about the best slimline folio case I have yet tried.There are two NYHK models, the Shield and the Folio Shield. The former has a rear cover and foldable, Smart Cover style lid. The latter (the one I tested) adds an integral stand. It does this by continuing to unfold once it reaches the spine, allowing the left edge to swing free so you can prop it up thusly:The case is made from a plastic dish to hold the cheap iphone4s battery case and a leather and microfiber wraparound to form the case itself. And if that sounds like a recipe for a thick and heavy case, get ready to be surprised.
This case is light. As in, 227 grams light, or just eight ounces. This is the same weight as many shell-and-cover only cases I have tested (yes, I weight them all), and comparable to Apple's Smart Case. And yet it is made of leather, and includes an extra layer of material to make its built-in stand possible.Speaking of leather, the NYHK case has the same quality feel as the Apple leather Smart Cover, and creases handsomely over time. Inside is microfiber to keep the iPad's screen clean, and both the leather and lining have a rather cool-looking pattern of streets embossed into them. The Lady, however, isn't impressed by the patterns.Then we come to the stand, which lets you prop the case up to any angle in landscape mode, and also folds up like the Smart Cover to make a typing stand.
It works very well, and the Wall Charger Wholesalers of the lining acts as a base, which grips well onto the microfiber-covered edge of the main case, stopping almost all slippage. The wedge-shaped fold is a little too springy for the embedded magnets to keep it closed, but then again you will always have the weight of the iPad on top.The bad points here are not really bad at all. The plastic shell which cossets the iPad is super-thin, but manages to grip the iPad like an alcoholic holds onto his bottle. Better, actually, as it doesn't have shaky hands. This also means that it is almost impossible to get the iPad 3 out without breaking a nail.
The iPad 2 is a slightly easier bet, but it's still not coming out unless you really, really want it to.The other bad point is — as I said earlier — the fault of the iPad 3. It's just too hot. My iPad is warm most of the time, partly because I live in a country where it's always hot, but also because the iPad 3 runs very warm. Putting it in a tight case with two layers of material on the back, and then watching a movie is a recipe for, well, for a well-cooked iPad. I figure that this problem will disappear in the winter, and is already non-existent with the iPad 2, so you should consider this before you buy.

Samsung Galaxy S3 Mophie Battery Case In the Works

Taking notice of incredible sales numbers for the Samsung Galaxy S3 Android smart phone, Mophie, the folks who produce the Juice Pack cases for iPhone, decided to create Mophie Android battery case for the Samsung Galaxy S3. It becomes the first Android phone to get a custom case from the popular battery case maker.The sales of the popular Samsung Galaxy S3 made it the perfect target for accessory makers like Mophie, knowing that plenty of owners might potentially buy accessories for the phone.According to Android Central Mophie announced their new battery case at IFA in Berlin. The case will reportedly double the Galaxy S3′s 2100 mAh battery, which in my experience with the Galaxy S3 means it should boost battery life to about 24-30 hours, depending on what the user does with the phone.Mophie didn't show a final design or specs for Mophie Android battery case nor do they offer an official name. According to the report, a prototype of the phone looks a lot like the finish of the Galaxy S3 and its shiny smooth case.
Our experience with Mophie cases for the iPhone leads us to believe they will offer a nice case for the Galaxy S3. Android users might want cases for their device, but this becomes problematic when one considers the large array of Android phones. Mophie's cases fit snugly on the iPhone so a generic case for the many Android devices will never work.Until Mophie or another company offers a custom battery case for any Android handset, look for an extended battery, often a good option. I'm currently testing one for my Galaxy S3 and recently reviewed a 4000 mAh battery from Hyperion that gave me great battery life while not adding an unwieldy amount of weight or thickness to my phone.
China charged the former police chief of Chongqing with a battery of crimes including taking bribes and abuse of power, pushing ahead with its bid to mop up a political scandal that shook the Communist Party and led to the downfall of his boss, Bo Xilai.Wang Lijun allegedly "neglected his duty and bent the law for personal gain" to shield Bo's wife, Gu Kailai, from charges that she plotted the murder a British businessman in November, the state-run Xinhua News Agency said. Gu was convicted last month of poisoning Neil Heywood with cyanide.The breadth of the charges against Wang, which also include defection for his flight to a U.S. consulate in February with evidence about the murder, signal the party may be marshaling its case against Bo, once considered a candidate for party's top Politburo Standing Committee.

Hands on: Droidax Power Pack for Samsung Galaxy S III

Galaxy S III owners feeling a little flat in the afternoons might find this Droidax Power Pack is just the pick me up they're looking for.Smartphones keep getter bigger, faster and smarter, but the trade-off is that battery life isn't what it used to be. It's triggered a boom in portable gadget chargers, but we've also seen the rise of protective cases with built-in batteries. Of course Apple's iPhone gets plenty of attention but you'll also find charge cases for Android superphones, with Droidax targeting both the Galaxy S II and Galaxy S III. To be fair the Galaxy S III's 2100 mAh battery is generous considering the size of the handset, but it won't be enough to get everyone through the day.
The $49.95 Droidax Power Pack for cheap gps Buy online isn't going to win any beauty contests, which is a shame considering it's such an elegant phone. The case comes in a choice of "Pearl White" and "Deep Blue", although our deep blue review case looked disturbingly close to prison grey. The top of the case detaches so you can slide in the phone until the phone's micro-USB port locks into the micro-USB plug in the bottom of the case.With the phone in place you can replace to top of the case, leaving only the top edge of the phone exposed but all four corners protected. There are holes in the case to allow access to the volume and power buttons, along with the camera, flash and speaker on the back. You'll find a micro-USB port built into the bottom of the case, along with a power button on the back of the Wholesale Universal Portable Battery.
The top of the case reattaches snugly once the phone is inside but there's nothing holding the top in place so it could potentially come away if the phone hit the ground hard enough. What's more disturbing is that there's nothing actually holding the phone in the case except for the USB port. If not for that, when you held the phone upside down the phone would simply fall out of the case. This would put a lot of stress on that USB plug should the phone hit the ground hard. If the USB plug snaps and the phone pops out, it would surely defeat the purpose of a protective case. I know that's a worst case scenario, but I'd think that's exactly what you're planning for when you consider a protective case.The case seems sturdy but its bulk roughly doubles the thickness of the phone and makes it about half as heavy again. Like I said, a rather frumpy case for what is such a sexy phone. But you're not just getting some protection against the rough and tumble of life on the road, you're also getting a built-in 2300mAh Li-Po battery which can extend the phone's battery life by up to 75 per cent.